Jim Hiller is adhering to the dogged, defense-first philosophy that has taken the Los Angeles Kings to the first round of the playoffs — and no further — in each of the last three seasons.
General manager Rob Blake introduced Hiller as the Kings’ permanent head coach on Thursday, retaining the former Kings assistant who replaced the fired Todd McLellan in February and led Los Angeles to a third consecutive place finish in the Pacific Division and third consecutive place in the early expulsion from the postseason.
“Where Jim always seemed to come out on top was the aspect of us spending time together,” Blake said. “We’ve seen him work… (and we’re) very comfortable, very confident in Jim’s approach to challenges. His presence in front of the group is very important for us. The way he can command the room and make it clear what we stand for, the direction we want to go together, confident that he can drive it home.
With Blake and Hiller returning after weeks of speculation about their futures, the Kings’ playoff struggles clearly won’t lead to a reset or rebuild. Los Angeles was eliminated by Edmonton on May 1 in five games.
The GM and his head coach remain committed to the style they adopted with their 1-3-1 neutral zone trap. The system has made the Kings a nightmare, but L.A. players sometimes chafe at the regimented strategy — and even Hiller acknowledges that it hurts the Kings’ offensive production.
“We started the process of analyzing everything about our game,” Hiller said. “We are a top defensive team in the National Hockey League. It’s been a few years. The identity of the LA Kings is a check-in team that is difficult to play against. We feel like we have to find some areas where we can create more offense, but not at the expense of our identity and what we took some time to create.”
Only two teams allowed fewer goals than the Kings (210) during the regular season, but Los Angeles was right in the middle of the NHL pack in offensive production despite a roster with expensive high-end talent.
“There are teams that are playing in the NHL (conference) finals right now that play 1-3-1, and there are teams that don’t,” Hiller said. “The common theme is they play good defense. They check. It doesn’t necessarily matter what the system is. You have to check within that system. We’ll look at the areas where we’re thinking, with our guys, how we can maximize a little bit more offense.”
That’s important because the Kings appear to be stuck in a rut: They lost to Edmonton in three straight first-round series after finishing the regular season with totals of 99, 104 and 99 points. They remained in this position despite spending big money to sign forwards Kevin Fiala – who has 145 points in two strong seasons – and Pierre-Luc Dubois, who only managed 40 points in his dismal debut with Los Angeles after signing a long-term contract. deadline last summer.
Blake said the three weeks since the Kings were ousted “have not been comfortable at all.” Blake kept his job even though the Kings didn’t win a playoff round in his seven seasons as GM, although they made the postseason four times.
Despite a roster often filled with top talent, Los Angeles has yet to advance in the postseason since winning its second Stanley Cup a decade ago.
“What we realized is that there is a certain desire to win that needs to be increased in our team here,” Blake said. “And what this is, it’s getting a little uncomfortable. … It starts now, right here, today, with me, with Jim, even with our players. If this is where we want to get to, this is what we have to do.”
Hiller was drafted by the Kings in the 10th round in 1989 and ended up playing 40 games with the team before being traded to Detroit as a rookie. Hiller has been passionate about coaching since before his brief NHL playing career, and he gave special thanks Thursday to Jacques Lemaire, the coach and Stanley Cup-winning player who mentored Hiller.
Hiller got a three-year deal with incentives that could trigger a fourth season, Blake confirmed without elaborating.
DJ Smith will remain on Hiller’s staff after being hired as an assistant in February, and the Kings will hire a new assistant coach to focus on the power play, filling Hiller’s role under McLellan.
